This invention relates generally to millimeter-wave antennas and, more particularly, to a monolithic, electronic scan, phased array antenna system.
One of the major problems inherent in the use of millimeter-wave, phased array antennas concerns the inability to produce the low-cost, high-precision scanning and control devices that the existing designs require. Generally speaking, the present construction methods involve the individual fabrication of discrete elements which are later assembled piece-by-piece, into a multi-element array. One such design is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 3,959,794 which uses bulk semiconductor PIN diodes as control elements in a dielectric waveguide antenna. The use of these discrete elements results in significant perturbation and distortion of the propagating wave thereby adversely affecting antenna performance. A further drawback of this design concerns the complexity and accompanying high cost of fabrication of such devices.